Toys MD

Sharp Minidisc Story

I dropped my 702 about a month ago, and the door that closes behind the disc when one is inserted was jammed open and the disc release mechanism didn't work and felt loose.

It would play fine though, I just couldn't change the disc. I thought about taking it apart and looking myself, and even printed out the service manual. I didn't want to make it worse though, so...

I phoned Richer Sounds (where I bought the recorder) to see what they thought, and told them it had been dropped (although only a few feet, onto carpet). They said to bring it in, and they'd have a look. As it had been dropped it wasn't covered by the warranty and the minimum charge for repair is about 30 UKP.

I took it in a few days later, and left it with them. They said that they might have to send it away, and it could take up to 10 days. As I was seriously short of money at the time I asked if it was possible for them to phone me with an estimate before they did anything costly. They seemed happy to do this, and even ticked a dedicated little box on the repair sheet.

Two weeks later I phoned them to see what was up, and why they hadn't called yet. They said the unit had come back, and was with them in town. Still knackered. They told me the disc was rescued though, but now that disc is removed it'll not play another. Great.

Richers said that the drive mechanism was too far damaged for repair to be viable, and that I might as well buy a new unit. I went in a week later (it's a little out my way, and I was in no hurry at this point), hoping they wouldn't charge for sending it to their repair place.

They didn't, which I was pleased with. They handed over the box they mailed it away in, and I walked out. When I got home, Mum said she might be able to claim on the accidental damage insurance we have. We did, and they sent a guy from Curries to have a look and check it was really dead. He came, and sent a new 702 around a week or so later and charged 50 UKP for it (Pay the first 50...).

Yay ! I could play my discs again :-) Now with nothing to loose, I took a screw driver to my knackered unit. Played around with it for a bit, managed to get a disc in. It played. I looked carefully, and noticed an L shaped spring that was only attached one side. I took it out completely. Looked more, and about half an hour later found two bits of metal that looked like they should be aligned and fit together. I moved them together, and they locked into place. I inserted another disc, and tried to eject it. It worked. It played. It recorded. It was fixed.

The unit seems to be pretty easy to open and play with, no warranty sticker, or difficult screws. They's a fiddly ribbon cable joining the two halves, but apart from that it's all pretty robust it seems.

So I now have two working units, and I'm not very happy with Richers repair service. Maybe I am though, as I got a spare for only 50 UKP from it ;-)